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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal spectacle far more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the public receives what the public desires, and that certainly means more low-quality celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."